1. To perceive truly is to be aware of all reality through the awareness of your own. 2But for this no illusions can rise to meet your sight, for reality leaves no room for any error. 3This means that you perceive a brother only as you see him now. 4His past has no reality in the present, so you cannot see it. 5Your past reactions to him are also not there, and if it is to them that you react, you see but an image of him that you made and cherish instead of him. 6In your questioning of illusions, ask yourself if it is really sane to perceive what was as now. 7If you remember the past as you look upon your brother, you will be unable to perceive the reality that is now.
2. You consider it “natural” to use your past experience as the reference point from which to judge the present. 2Yet this is unnatural because it is delusional. 3When you have learned to look on everyone with no reference at all to the past, either his or yours as you perceived it, you will be able to learn from what you see now. 4For the past can cast no shadow to darken the present, unless you are afraid of light. 5And only if you are would you choose to bring darkness with you, and by holding it in your mind, see it as a dark cloud that shrouds your brothers and conceals their reality from your sight.
3. This darkness is in you. 2The Christ as revealed to you now has no past, for He is changeless, and in His changelessness lies your release. 3For if He is as He was created, there is no guilt in Him. 4No cloud of guilt has risen to obscure Him, and He stands revealed in everyone you meet because you see Him through Himself. 5To be born again is to let the past go, and look without condemnation upon the present. 6The cloud that obscures God’s Son to you is the past, and if you would have it past and gone, you must not see it now. 7If you see it now in your illusions, it has not gone from you, although it is not there.
4. Time can release as well as imprison, depending on whose interpretation of it you use. 2Past, present and future are not continuous, unless you force continuity on them. 3You can perceive them as continuous, and make them so for you. 4But do not be deceived, and then believe that this is how it is. 5For to believe reality is what you would have it be according to your use for it is delusional. 6You would destroy time’s continuity by breaking it into past, present and future for your own purposes. 7You would anticipate the future on the basis of your past experience, and plan for it accordingly. 8Yet by doing so you are aligning past and future, and not allowing the miracle, which could intervene between them, to free you to be born again.
5. The miracle enables you to see your brother without his past, and so perceive him as born again. 2His errors are all past, and by perceiving him without them you are releasing him. 3And since his past is yours, you share in this release. 4Let no dark cloud out of your past obscure him from you, for truth lies only in the present, and you will find it if you seek it there. 5You have looked for it where it is not, and therefore have not found it. 6Learn, then, to seek it where it is, and it will dawn on eyes that see. 7Your past was made in anger, and if you use it to attack the present, you will not see the freedom that the present holds.
6. Judgment and condemnation are behind you, and unless you bring them with you, you will see that you are free of them. 2Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the only things that are forever true. 3All healing lies within it because its continuity is real. 4It extends to all aspects of the Sonship at the same time, and thus enables them to reach each other. 5The present is before time was, and will be when time is no more. 6In it are all things that are eternal, and they are one. 7Their continuity is timeless and their communication is unbroken, for they are not separated by the past. 8Only the past can separate, and it is nowhere.
7. The present offers you your brothers in the light that would unite you with them, and free you from the past. 2Would you, then, hold the past against them? 3For if you do, you are choosing to remain in the darkness that is not there, and refusing to accept the light that is offered you. 4For the light of perfect vision is freely given as it is freely received, and can be accepted only without limit. 5In this one, still dimension of time that does not change, and where there is no sight of what you were, you look at Christ and call His witnesses to shine on you because you called them forth. 6And they will not deny the truth in you, because you looked for it in them and found it there.
8. Now is the time of salvation, for now is the release from time. 2Reach out to all your brothers, and touch them with the touch of Christ. 3In timeless union with them is your continuity, unbroken because it is wholly shared. 4God’s guiltless Son is only light. 5There is no darkness in him anywhere, for he is whole. 6Call all your brothers to witness to his wholeness, as I am calling you to join with me. 7Each voice has a part in the song of redemption, the hymn of gladness and thanksgiving for the light to the Creator of light. 8The holy light that shines forth from God’s Son is the witness that his light is of his Father.
9. Shine on your brothers in remembrance of your Creator, for you will remember Him as you call forth the witnesses to His creation. 2Those whom you heal bear witness to your healing, for in their wholeness you will see your own. 3And as your hymns of praise and gladness rise to your Creator, He will return your thanks in His clear Answer to your call. 4For it can never be that His Son called upon Him and remained unanswered. 5His Call to you is but your call to Him. 6And in Him you are answered by His peace.
10. Child of Light, you know not that the light is in you. 2Yet you will find it through its witnesses, for having given light to them they will return it. 3Each one you see in light brings your light closer to your awareness. 4Love always leads to love. 5The sick, who ask for love, are grateful for it, and in their joy they shine with holy thanks. 6And this they offer you who gave them joy. 7They are your guides to joy, for having received it of you they would keep it. 8You have established them as guides to peace, for you have made it manifest in them. 9And seeing it, its beauty calls you home.
11. There is a light that this world cannot give. 2Yet you can give it, as it was given you. 3And as you give it, it shines forth to call you from the world and follow it. 4For this light will attract you as nothing in this world can do. 5And you will lay aside the world and find another. 6This other world is bright with love which you have given it. 7And here will everything remind you of your Father and His holy Son. 8Light is unlimited, and spreads across this world in quiet joy. 9All those you brought with you will shine on you, and you will shine on them in gratitude because they brought you here. 10Your light will join with theirs in power so compelling, that it will draw the others out of darkness as you look on them.
12. Awaking unto Christ is following the laws of love of your free will, and out of quiet recognition of the truth in them. 2The attraction of light must draw you willingly, and willingness is signified by giving. 3Those who accept love of you become your willing witnesses to the love you gave them, and it is they who hold it out to you. 4In sleep you are alone, and your awareness is narrowed to yourself. 5And that is why the nightmares come. 6You dream of isolation because your eyes are closed. 7You do not see your brothers, and in the darkness you cannot look upon the light you gave to them.
13. And yet the laws of love are not suspended because you sleep. 2And you have followed them through all your nightmares, and have been faithful in your giving, for you were not alone. 3Even in sleep has Christ protected you, ensuring the real world for you when you awake. 4In your name He has given for you, and given you the gifts He gave. 5God’s Son is still as loving as his Father. 6Continuous with his Father, he has no past apart from Him. 7So he has never ceased to be his Father’s witness and his own. 8Although he slept, Christ’s vision did not leave him. 9And so it is that he can call unto himself the witnesses that teach him that he never slept.